See what’s actually there.
The top half shows performance — how they want to be seen. The bottom half shows formation — who they are, what they trust, and what they still need to prove. The top half tells you how to enter the conversation — their frame of self-importance. The bottom half tells you where to connect — where persuasion can happen.
You’re reconstructing how a person operates. Ask:
- What kind of reasoning do they use — model, story, system, method, or coalition?
- Who are they still performing for — peers, mentors, markets, movements?
- What counts as proof — data, precedent, narrative, belonging?
- Where are they most certain — and where are they compensating?
1. Narrative Continuity vs. Discontinuity
Look for breaks in continuity — gaps, detours, or lateral moves — and ask why. These often mark moments of crisis, reinvention, or conflict between values and ambition. If the trajectory is smooth and linear, it usually signals risk-aversion or establishment alignment. Nonlinear paths indicate curiosity, rebellion, or purpose-driven reorientation.
2. Anchoring Identities
The first decade of a career (usually buried deep) shows what they wanted to be before they were successful. Repeated themes — strategy, innovation, systems, storytelling, community — are identity anchors. They persist even when job titles change.
Anchors show the kind of intelligence they trust: Operations → precision and reliability. Strategy → clarity and control. Design → coherence and iteration. Organizing → power and loyalty. Communication → persuasion and story.
3. Volunteer Work and Boards
This section is expressive, not strategic. Token roles (“Board Member, 2018–present”) are social signaling. Hands-on or long-term commitments show conviction or unfinished loyalty. The causes — arts, education, equity, environment — expose the kind of “good” they still believe in.
4. Education
Education shows which tribe someone learned to belong to and which codes they still respect. Ivy League and MBA paths reflect comfort with hierarchy and credentialed power. Liberal arts or humanities backgrounds show curiosity and identity built through ideas. Public universities reflect pragmatism and endurance. Unfinished degrees signal independence and proof through action.
5. Interests and Follows
Who they follow is a live x-ray of influence. CEOs and investors = status. Activists and writers = values. Brands and media = optics. The pattern shows the community they think they’re part of — or want to be. It’s the easiest way to see whose judgment they still care about.
6. Tone and Voice of Writing
The About section and recommendations reveal emotional structure. Grand, self-mythologizing tone = ego, insecurity, performance. Earnest, reflective tone = service mindset, comfort with emotion. Dry, procedural tone = bureaucratic training, low risk tolerance. Word choice marks class and ideology: impact and innovation in consultant dialects; justice and solidarity in movement dialects.
7. Absences
What’s not there matters. No volunteer work → detachment or single-channel identity. No photo → privacy, humility, or discomfort with exposure. No early detail → class concealment or control of narrative.
Geoffrey MacDougall 